A Fully Mechanical 3D Printer is Mind Blowing

It’s been a while since we’ve been seriously impressed with a project like this one. [Daniël de Bruin], a student at the Art Academy in Utrecht has just put the final touches on his mechanical 3D printer.

That’s right. Mechanical.

No computers, no motors, just the power of gravity. It could have been built 100 years ago.

The machine uses a 15kg weight to power the mechanism — it does need to be reset during the print, but that’s a small price to pay for this kind of mechanical automation.

He uses a type of clay in a paste extruder that slowly deposits the material on the build platform. To program the machine, there is a small guiding mechanism that follows the contour of a bent aluminum wire. This allows you to make any number of symmetrical and circular objects.

[Daniël] says he was inspired to build this machine because he loves 3D printing — but at the same time, he feels like it’s kind of like cheating. Beyond pressing the print button, there’s no real human interaction.

I love technology but how can I reclaim ownership of my work? Perhaps by building the machine that produces the work. Perhaps by physically powering the machine, which I built, that produces the work. in hopes of rediscovering the sense of having created something, I create.

WOW knowing how everything has to be just right with 3d printers it is amazing to see this work. My fully computer controlled constantly adjusted reprap manages to fail on a regular basis. Making this work is heroic. And it is “programmable” by bending just one wire. This made my day!

omg absolute love.
I really like looking at clock tower clocks, 19th century steam engines, and any machine turn of the century really.
Loved the air resistance fan for speed control, which reminds me of those clock towers.
Excellent work.

It’s very good. But… the automata of the 18th (17th?) Centuries show that he could do yet more… Dunno if an X/Y machine would be the way, I think a Delta would be more suited. With a Delta you’d just need 3 “program” wires to control the arms. An X-Y might use a series of cams, with the reader slipping from one cam to the next…

I bet it could be done mechanically. It would be a real challenge to do, but maybe some very clever software would be the other half of it. Either converting objects, or maybe G-code, into cam patterns or wire bending.

I wonder if the guy who did this very impressive thing, would consider expanding it to 3 delta arms?

Also, last thought for this machine, I bet some sort of museum that sells pottery could sell these pots all day long. Have the customer pick their own pattern and insert the requisite wire. Maybe -even- allow some to bend a wire of their own if they really want to, and for a few more quid. Stick the pot in the oven while the customer wanders round to see the sights, and present it to them at the end. Or possibly just post it to their home.

It’s more sort-of “authorship”, “craftsmanship”, a sort of moral or mental ownership, a sense of having made something with one’s own hands. Pressing a button doesn’t give that. Even designing an object on computer doesn’t have the physical satisfaction to it. Although I suppose making your 3D printer yourself would help a lot with that.

Could likely make it not need a reset while still being entirely mechanical by appropriating the mainspring from a decently sized clock, or making one himself, and end up with a clockpunk 3D printer in the process as a happy bonus.

I’m a potter by trade and a hacker by inclination and education. I join with the folks who feel reminded of turn of a couple centuries back, and my “Steam Punk” artistic roots. Is it art? Is it a hack? I’ve got to say yes most enthusiastically yes, it is both.

Nice to see player piano transmission chain in use. I noticed some jerky motion in the rotation, could be the horizontal chain drive catching on the sprockets. These chains are normally vertical and with a slack wheel or just the right tension.